Indians, museum reach accord

Meteorite to get plaque describing religious significance

June 29, 2000|By John Sullivan | John Sullivan,NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

NEW YORK - In a compromise that seeks to balance scientific inquiry with cultural tradition, the American Museum of Natural History and an Indian group from Oregon have agreed that the 15.5-ton Willamette Meteorite will remain a centerpiece of the museum's new center for earth and space.

The brownish iron meteorite, the largest ever discovered in the continental United States, will continue to rest on its steel pedestal in the Cullman Hall of the Universe. But in addition to a plaque describing the scientific background of the giant rock, which scientists believe plummeted to earth 10,000 years ago from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, there will be a second display describing its history and importance as a Native American religious object.

Ellen V. Futter, the museum's president, said the agreement was "predicated on mutual recognition of, and respect for, the traditions of both the tribe and the museum."

`Constructive resolution'

"It constitutes, we think, an enlightened and constructive resolution to a complicated and sensitive dispute," she said.

The fate of the meteorite, which has been on display at the museum for nearly a century, was called into question early this year when the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde asked the museum to surrender the meteorite under a law that calls for the return of Native American artifacts from organizations that receive federal money. The Confederated Tribes said that the meteorite held great religious significance for its people.

The museum asked the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to deny the group's claims. In legal papers, the museum's lawyers said the meteorite was a natural feature of the landscape and not a religious object as defined by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. The museum bought the meteorite in 1906 from the owner of the land where it was found, the Oregon Iron and Steel Co., for $20,600.

Ceremonial visits

After several months of negotiations, which included an exchange of visits by representatives of both sides, a compromise was reached, avoiding what most likely would have been a lengthy and expensive court battle. While the museum will keep the meteorite, title to it will transfer to the Confederated Tribes if the museum stops exhibiting the object, except for periodic restoration and cleaning. The Confederated Tribes will also be allowed to schedule ceremonial visits to the meteorite.

Kathryn Harrison, chairwoman of the Indian group's Tribal Council, said the agreement represented an important milestone in the history of the Confederated Tribes, made up of tribes that lived in western Oregon until the mid-19th century.

In a speech announcing the agreement, Harrison spoke of the history of the Confederated Tribes, describing a forced relocation to government reservations that led to shrinking lands and a scattered, dwindling population. The tribes' independent identity officially ended with a government order in 1954, but she said members spent years fighting to have their name restored. In 1983, Congress reinstated federal recognition, and 4,500 tribal members now live on a reservation southwest of Portland.

Harrison said the Confederated Tribes had to struggle to reclaim its history and identity, and the meteorite is an important part of the group's tradition. The Clackamas Indians held the meteorite to be a sacred object and believed that a union occurred of the earth, sky and water when it rested in the ground and rainwater collected in its many folds and basins.

Although the Confederated Tribes had sought the return of the meteorite, Harrison said the group and the museum found common ground in "the search to see how the past came to be the present."